Brake-head and lever for operating the same



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

. G. H. POOR. BRAKE HEAD AND LEVER FOR OPERATING THE SAME.

No. 402,276. 4 Patented Apr. 30, 1889.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A e. H. P003. BRAKE HEAD AND LEVER FOR OPERATING THE SAME. No. 402,276. Patented Apr. 30, 1889.

N Prams. mwumgn m Wminplom n.c.-

M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. POOR, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A SSIGNOR TO THE ESTING- I HOUSE AIR BRAKE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

BRAKE-HEAD AND LEVER FOR OPERATING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 402,276, dated April 30, 1889.

Applicatiou filed February 2, 1889. Serial No. 298,499. (No model.)

To 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. POOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brake- I-Ieads and Levers for Operating the Same; andI hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to apply the same.

The present invention is intended to avoid certain objectionable features of construction in brake-heads actuated by floating levers, (of which my patent, No. 346,441, July 27, 1886, Reissue No. 10,796, January 11, 1887, locomotive-brakes, may be taken as a type,) though I do not intend to limit the scope of my invention thereto, as while it is specially serviceable in such cases, it may be applied in other forms of brake mechanism. to much advantage.

In my patent hereinbefore referred to the brake-headsare link-suspended or floating heads, and the levers for operating the same are free or floating levers arranged substantially horizontal and connected in series or successionby a single line of pull-rods. The brake-head is provided with a recess, diverging lugs, or a jaw of sufficient width to allow for the play or rocking of the end of the floating operating-lever. The end of the floating lever enters said recess, and the connection between the head and lever is made by a pin or equivalent means. A similar pivot or pin connection is commonly employed between the brake-head and operating-lever in various forms of brakes. In practice it has been found to be expedient'to suspend the brakehead about twelve inches from the rail 3 and it is also desirable that the jawed recess in the head should stand or extend in a horizontal plane or line with the operating-lever, to have,whenthe brake is applied, a square or'full bearing of the lever on the pin. As a result of this, it has been found necessary in practiceto either have different forms of head for wheels of dilferent diameter, or else to suspend them at different distances above the track or wheels of different diameters. As now constructed, even when the head has been selected and adapted to the diameter of the wheel, the subsequent wear of the wheel will change the proportions and disarrange the adjustment of the brake and its operatinglever.

The object of the present invention is therefore to overcome these objections by such a mechanical construction and connection of the brake-head and its operating-lever as will enable a single or standard head to be used on wheels of different diameters, will allow of the suspension of said standard head at any desired distance from the track, and will compensate for any wear of the wheel, so as to preserve the square contact or full bearing between the head and its operating-lever.

To this end the invention, broadly stated, consists in two prominent features of construction-viz., first, a curved bearing between the operating lever and brake-head, and, second, a positive connection between the head and lever, which dispenses with the usual pin or any equivalent intermediate connection.

There are other minor features of invention, all of which will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the drawings I have illustrated in Figure l a plan view of a locomotive-brake mechanism embodying myinvention; Fig. 2, an enlarged side elevation of one of the brake-heads, with its operating-lever in section on line w :0, Fig. 3; Fig. 3, a plan view of one of the substantially-horizontal floating levers and the brakehead, the latter in section on the line y y, Fig.

2; and Figs. 4, 5, and (3 are diagrams illustrat ing the modifications in the form of head and its suspension with relation to the wheel and.

the track necessitated by the present construction of the brakehead and its operatinglever.

Like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur.

In this diagram (or Figs-4, 5, and 6) the middle figure, or that marked 5, is intended to represent the average or fifty-inch wheel or driver, while Fig. 4 is intended to represent a smaller or forty-four-inch driver,-and-Fig. G a sixty-eight-inch or larger driver. It will be noted that with the standard or average size of wheel, Fig. 5, the floating-lever will move in a horizontal plane indicated by the line lettered a and bear squarely or directly on the pin-connection between the head and lever, while in case of a smaller wheel, Fig. 4, as well as in case of a larger wheel, Fig. 6, it is oblique to the pin or angling, whereas it should be in the lines 0 and d, respectively, to obtain a square or full bearing of the lever on the pin and avoid the cramping or wedging of the lever in the jaw of the head, either in the first instance or after the wheel and brakehead have become worn.

Iwill now proceed to describe the preferred form of devices employed by me, so as to enable others skilled in the art to apply the invention as the circumstances of the case may dictate or require.

In the drawings, Fig. 1, is shown a series of brakeheads, floating levers, and their adjuncts adapted for a locomotive having four drivers, D indicating a brake-beam, which may connect the forward heads of the two sides, if desired; E E indicating the cylinders for operating the brakes; F F, the brakeheads; G G, the floating levers, and P P the pull-rods, all of which may be of any form desired, or any approved arrangement, as the broad combinations do not form the subject of the present invention, the present invention being embodied in the principle upon which the brake-head F and the levers G are connected.

In carrying out my invention, instead of employing a pin and an open jaw or slot at the rear of the brake-head, or a link-connection, as heretofore, I prefer to form the brake head F with a triangular key-hole or inclosed slot, 1, for the reception of the end of the lever G, said slot of suflicient width at its front to allow for any desired change of relation between the brake-head and lever, the back edge of the-lever G being the center on which the head vibrates. The forward face or wall of the slot 1 is concave or curved, as at Fig. 2, to receive the convex or correspondingly curved or rounded forward edge of the floating lever, and it is also cut out in the form of a circle, as at Fig. 3, the center of the said circle being outside of the head, the rear wall, 4, Fig. 3, of the slot 1 being curved concentric therewith.

The lever G at that end which enters slot 1 of the brake-head (see Fig. 2) is convex or rounded, as at 5, to correspond with the curve 2, and should also be rounded at its rear edge, as at 6, so that the brake-head can rock vertically or adjust itself on the lever G, according to the diameter of the wheel with which the brake-head is used, or to accommodate the wear of the wheel, and at the same time, on account of the curved faces 5 of the lever G and the curved wall of the slot 1 in head F, the bearing of the lever on the head will be square and full. As the pin is dispensed with, some means of connecting the head and lever must be provided, and this is done by giving the end of lever G a hooked form, its front and rear edges being made, respectively,

the lever convex and concave, as at 7 and 8, to correspond to the transverse curves 3 and 4 of the slot 1 of head F.

It will be noted that in order to introduce the end of lever G the lever will have to be rotated to a greater anglet-han it can ever assume when in use, so that there is no danger of subsequent accidental disconnection of the parts. The above construction or its equivalent, while dispensing with the pin, provides for the free horizontal vibration of G in applying and releasing the brakes.

Owing to the triangular form of the slot 1 in the head F, there would be a constant tendency of the brake-head to sag or rock forward and drag on the wheel, and to overcome this tendency a balance-rod or springrod, 9, may be employed, one end, 10, of which may be secured to the lever G, while the opposite end passes under a lug, 11, or bearing on the lower end of the brake-head F.

On considering Fig. 2 of the drawings carefully, it will be noted that, owing to the keyhole slot in the head and the curved edges of the lever and wall of said slot, the head and lever can be adjusted to suit either a wheel of greater diameter, as shown by the dotted line marked 67", or one of less diameter, (see the dotted line marked 45",) as well as the intermediate size, the adjustment to which is shown in full line, and that for all these adjustments the fixed center is at the lower point of the brake-head, (marked 3) whereby it follows that a single form of brake-head of standard pattern may be used on wheels of different diameter, may be suspended at a fixed distance above the track, and the hearing of the horizontal floating lever will be full or square, so as to apply the power to the best advantage without danger of cramping or wedging the lever, all of which advantages result from the principle of construction herein set forth and embraced in the invention hereinbefore described.

Having thus set forth the nature and advantages of my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a brake-head recessed to permit of play between the head and its operating-lever, said recess having a concave bearing-surface for the operatinglever, and an operating-lever having a convex bearing face or edge, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination of a brake-head having a triangular or key-hole slot with a concave bearing-surface for the reception of the end of the operating-lever and an operating-lever having a rounded or convex bearing edge, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. The combination, with a brake-head having a slot for the end of the brake-lever, said slot having walls which are curved or concentric in transverse section, of abrake-lever the end of which. has its edges concentrically curved to correspond with the walls of the slot in the brake-head, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. The combination, with a slotted brakehead, of an operating-lever or brake-lever having a hooked end to engage in the slot of the brake-head, substantially as and for the purposes speoified.

5. The combinatioin'with a brake-head having a tapering slot for the end of the brake lever, and with the brake-lever, of a balance or support rod arranged parallel with the side of the brake-head for maintaining the brake head in its proper position, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

6. The combination, vvith a brake-head hav- GEORGE H. POOR.

Witnesses:

J. H. BATCHELDER, A. A. PAXSON. 

